Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-08-12

STARTING FOR HOME.
According to the agreement between
them, the three explorers were at liberty
to separate here and each go his individual
way aud the naturalist, having been alb
sent from home over month longer al
ready than he proposed, claimed his privi
lege 10 return. The chief did his best to
retain him. having discovered that his
readings Of the Letters had been alto
gether Incorrect, and that the only route
leading to the lost mines was the one he
was next to take, in a southwesterly direc-
ton, towards the Pacific coast. But, though
with sorrow, the naturalist forced himself
to say good bye to his friends, parting from
them the next morning, and setting his
face towards the railroad leading to Vera
Cruz and the steamer thence to the States.
Don Santos, our faithful guide, agreed to
take him through to the tramway of Teh
nacan, a distance of 40 miles, in the three
days and fraction remaining, his horse
and himself having recovered their strength
and flesh by their long rest while we were
IN Chinanteco country. He mounted the
naturalist upon his own favorite buckskin,
IA true MeXicano, that waits till his victim
is secure i'll his saddle, then gets upon his
hind legs and paws the air with his fore
legs reaches out with his hinder limbs,
then goes up in the air and kicks all four
legs at once, rolls his eyes, gnashes his
teeth and breathes hard, like a furnace.
Yet all the time he had peculiar air about
him, and a sly leer in his eye, that said to
the naturalist Don't you be afraid of
me, this is only my way, you know" Then
IA f.f o,,l
hands to wiring a last farewell, this frisky
buckskin leaped to one side and was off
like an arrow, leaving them paving the at
mosphere.
As it was yet in the rainy season, the
roads were in horrible condition, with deep
holes in them, mud a foot deep, and long
stretches Of slippery clay yet that steed,
undaunted, waltzed sidewise, the greater
portion of the Journey, down every clayey
hill and among the Drinks of precipices,
| in a manner that gave the naturalist deep
! miSgivings. But when, on the third day,
| the rider was smitten with n fever-spell
how gently the noble beast bore him over
the rough road well aware that man
with swaying body and head dropping
| heavily over the saddle-bow, was not able
TO manage horse in his tantrums. The
streams were swollen, and at the fords we
| found naked Indians to assist us one took
| each horse by the head, while another swan
| at his flank, on the down current side,
shouting Justify, and landed us safely
though at some distance below the trail
| They charged only two reals (25 cents)
apiece for their service On the long road
| leading down from Dominguilla-the only
town on the route-Don Santos gave chase
TO bull, and we thundersd down the steep
grade like whirlwind, just missing the
| beast, which darted over the bank as my
cOmpdHero was reaching out to grasp its
tail
With a rain-soaked cloth hanging over
his neck, and clinging to the pommel of his
saddle the naturalist rode into the hamlet
of Techomavaca, on the third afternoon,
and fell into a cot, in a raging fever. A
| kind old Indian woman brought him lemon
ade and rubbed him all over with aguard-
iente, thus relieving the pain of back and
limbs, and he slept till 3 o'clock next morn
| ing, when Don Santos lifted him into the
saddle and kept his courage up to the
sticking point until the town of Tehnac-
an, and its tramway, was reached, and
there terminated the horse and mule-back
ride of nearly n thousand miles Warmly
embracing his friend, the Don handed the
naturalist his bag of silver-which he had
carried all the time, and now delivered up
without single peso missing-and then left
him alone.
Nearly three years later-it remains but
to add-three travellers held IA reunion, in
II hospital ward in New York The chief
was PROSTATE, smitten with deadly dis
ease contracted on that journey and in
subsequent wanderings after the igllis Ja-
tuts of Montezuma But, though he ex-
planned to us the reason of our failure, and
how readily he would soon lead us directly
to the treasure, he never left his cot again,
aud three months later he was in his grave
though | am not willing to affirm that all
knowledge perished with him of the Aztec
| treasure-trOve